Toon Boom Harmony is an Emmy-winning, industry-leading 2D animation software designed for both beginners and professionals. The program lets you use traditional frame-by-frame animation or cut-out animation. It includes a variety of camera angles and post-production special effects, as well as vector drawing and a lip-syncing feature to match the voice with the animations. It's also great for creating animatics for movies and TV shows. The program is available in three different versions: Essentials (for students and hobbyists), Advanced (for professionals), and Premium (for most advanced users).

Key features:

• Wide variety of pro-level tools for Disney-like animation

• Lighting and shading options for realistic depth and volume

Download Toon Boom Harmony

Pencil2D is one of the most powerful 2D animation programs today. This software features a minimalist-style workspace, created to avoid distractions from the main animating window. It's focused on traditional frame-by-frame animation so every keyframe is made from scratch. The program is completely free and is available for Windows 7 and Windows 10 PCs in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, as well as Mac and Linux computers.

Key features:

• Raster and vector graphics

• Built-in templates

Download Pencil2D

Synfig is an open-source, free 2D animation software with the power of a professional one. The program was designed to look like and work similar to Adobe® Flash® (now called Adobe® Animate), so if you've used Flash in the past, you will quickly adapt your development to the Synfig workspace. It includes a number of advanced animation tools, including vector tweening, layers and filters, and bones.

Key features:

• Vector animation software

• Bone-based animation

Download Synfig

Cartoon Animator 4 is a pro-level 2D animation program used by artists and illustrators, movie and video creators, web and game designers, and students and educators. It offers a library of professional-looking premade characters, as well as a variety of animated movements and special effects. Cartoon Animator offers sophisticated motion capture for facial expressions and body movements, and automatically lip synchs to an imported or recorded voice track.

Key features:

• Motion capture for 3D animation

• 360-degree head creation

Download Cartoon Animator 4

OpenToonz is another popular free, open-source 2D animation software that combines traditional drawing with 2D animation. Use the program's GTS tool to scan in your black and white or color drawings, then start using the built-in animation tools. The software's toolset has a lot of features that you can find in the more professional – and more expensive – software on the market.

Key features:

• Proprietary GTS scanning tool

• Real frame-by-frame animation

Download OpenToonz

Stop Motion Studio is a cheap and easy-to-use program for Windows 10 and Mac computers, as well as Android and iOS mobile devices. The program allows you to quickly and easily create beautiful stop-motion animations. Plug in your DSLR and take pictures directly into the program, letting the software take full control of all the settings in the camera as you shoot frame-by-frame. You can also add text, themes, colors, drawings, and green screen backgrounds to your stop motion animation.

Key features:

• Works with most digital cameras or your phone/tablet camera

• Green screen backgrounds

Download Stop Motion Studio

Moho Pro is a good program for getting started with 2D animation. It's one of the easiest programs for beginners to use but includes a wealth of advanced features for professional use. One of these features is called Smart Bones, which helps to reduce or completely remove any distortion around elbows, knees, or any moving joints on a character.

Key features:

• Powerful 2D rigging system

• Integrated lip-synching

Download Moho Pro

Adobe^® Animate^®, previously known as Adobe^® Flash^®, offers pro-level drawing and animation tools, including animation paths and bones. The built-in virtual camera lets you imitate realistic camera movement, along with pans, zooms, and rotating. It's part of the Adobe^® Creative Cloud^® suite and perfect for creating anime.

Key features:

• Bone-based animation
• Virtual camera functionality

Download Adobe^® Animate^®

TupiTube was created by two professional animators to encourage the animation industry in Latin America. It’s a free download and open-source, designed primarily for kids and amateurs. Its simple interface lets you create both frame by frame and cut-out Flash-style animations.

Key features:

• Character animation

• Image library

Download TupiTube

Krita is free painting software, popular with comic book artists. The program includes a number of customizable brush presets and features an intuitive yet unobtrusive interface with dockers and panels. While primarily used for detailed illustration, it also functions as 2D character design software to bring comic book panels to life.

Key features:

• 100+ professional brushes

• Drawing assistants to help you get started

Download Krita

Adobe^® Character Animator^® that uses motion capture technology to easily create life-like animation. Use a pre-built 2D puppet or create your own character, video record yourself in motion, then use that video to animate your character. The program also tracks facial expressions.

Key features:

• Realistic motion capture animation
• Create animations with just a few clicks

Download Adobe^® Character Animator^®